BATON ROUGE, La. (ABP) — Louisiana will join six other states that allow people to carry concealed handguns to church, thanks to a bill that Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) has signed.
Bobby Jindal (U.S. Congress photo)
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His office announced late July 6 that he had signed the bill, one of hundreds that made their way to his desk at the end of the Louisiana Legislature’s session.
The law — an earlier attempt at which had been killed by a Louisiana Senate panel before its main sponsor revived it via amendment — does away with an earlier provisions that banned concealed weapons inside churches, synagogues and other houses of worship.
It allows churches to choose whether to permit handguns inside their facilities, and it requires permit holders for concealed weapons to take eight additional hours of tactical training before being allowed to carry their guns into churches. The training must be renewed annually.
It also requires pastors or other heads of religious communities that allow concealed weapons to announce to worshipers that there might be gun-toters in their midst.
It continues the state’s already-existing ban on guns on school grounds, including inside churches that share campuses with schools. According to the New Orleans Times-Picayune, the law will take effect Aug. 15.
Henry Burns
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While some of Louisiana’s religious leaders opposed the bill and a handful of politicians — mainly from crime-ridden New Orleans — spoke out against it, it passed both of the state’s legislative houses overwhelmingly. The bill’s main sponsor, state Rep. Henry Burns (R-Haughton), said well-publicized attacks at churches in recent years — including one that killed a Baptist pastor in Illinois last year — made him think churches might want to arm trained parishioners to protect congregations.
“I was born and raised with Mayberry, riding my bicycle any time of the day or night,” he said, referring to the idyllic fictional town that served as the setting for "The Andy Griffith Show" in the 1960s, according to the Baton Rouge Advocate. “But we live in different times.”
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Robert Marus is managing editor and Washington bureau chief for Associated Baptist Press.
Read more:
Text of Louisiana House Bill 1272
Previous ABP stories:
Louisiana Senate panel shelves guns-in-church bill (6/14/2010)
Louisiana House passes bill allowing guns in church (3/13/2010)
Pastor gunned down in pulpit (3/8/2009)